Art can shed light on dimming mind

Marion and Ellen Steiner of Temperance, at front and center, tour the Aminah Robinson exhibit at the Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art. Marion has memory loss and is touring with others who have the same difficulty. Enlarge

Ben Ford is studying a poster on which the loopy handwriting of artist Aminah Robinson has been reproduced. With a thick finger, he's carefully tracking lines, left to right, and quietly speaking the words.

"My father couldn't read. Couldn't write. My mother, though, learned to read and write. My aunts, uncles, and cousins — this reminds me of the way they wrote," he said, "but they wrote better than this."

Accompanied by his wife of 42 years, he's in a gallery at the Glass Pavilion of the Toledo Museum of Art. They've just heard a lecture and had a tour with docent Bonnie Hay as part of the monthly Meet Me at TMA program, and are poking around on their own.

"My husband has spoken much about his culture and how life was for his parents growing up in the South. It's his heritage," said Charlene Ford, of Toledo. "A lot of things bring back memories. Whether he keeps them very long is another thing."

The Fords and a dozen others are here for an event designed for people who have memory loss and their caregivers. Mr. Ford, a former truck driver, has lived with dementia for about seven years, but Mrs. Ford said his memory loss began in 1990 after he was in a bad accident.

Upcoming Meet Me at TMA programs will be at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 5, April 2, and most first Saturdays throughout the year. Spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends have accompanied people experiencing mild memory loss. Reservations are suggested but not required by calling the Alzheimer's Association, Northwest Ohio Chapter at 419-537-1999.

"It was a wonderful experience for him and for me, because I hadn't seen him that enthusiastic in a long time," Mrs. Ford said later. "He came to life that day. When we first got there, he was anxious and apprehensive about the whole thing. But when he got to get up and look at the artist's work, his mind started working."

‘The start button'

Memory loss often narrows a person's intellectual, social, and emotional worlds. Language skills erode.

"They don't feel comfortable keeping up with conversations, so people isolate themselves," said Cheryl Conley, program director at the Alzheimer's Association, Northwest Ohio Chapter. People feel as if they don't fit in comfortably with their former life, she said. Moreover, they may lack initiative and experience apathy.

"It's almost as if someone needs to press their start button. Once they get going, they have a lovely time," said Ms. Conley.

And, unlike heart disease or stroke, Alzheimer's continues to carry some stigma, particularly with those who don't know how to respond.

Marion Steiner, of Temperance, has found the museum trips both interesting and an enjoyable get-together with others who have become friendly acquaintances.

"I think it stimulates the imagination to see what others do with their lives," said Mr. Steiner, a retired social worker. He's remained in the early stages of Alzheimer's since his 1996 diagnosis.

Added Ellen Steiner, his wife: "And they encourage us to do some kind of art if we want to, and in some cases we have done that. It's fun. It's a way of expanding our interests."

Fostering self-esteem

About 5.3 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's, a brain disease that causes memory, thinking, and behavior problems, and worsens over time. It affects 13 percent of people older than 65 and nearly 50 percent of those 85 and older. Seventy percent of people who have Alzheimer's live at home. Many more have related disorders that cause memory loss, confusion, and other symptoms of dementia.

When other means of self-expression are lost or misunderstood, creativity and movement can provide emotional release.

Gardening and simply being in gardens, painting, yoga, physical exercise, dancing, and reading or being read to are activities that can foster self-esteem and calmness.

Meet Me at TMA was launched in mid-2009 after Lynn Duty, the museum's docent program coordinator, learned about the successful Meet Me at MoMA, at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. She contacted the local Alzheimer's Association, where staff knew of MoMA's project and were eager to collaborate. The association's staff have done similar programs in parks and at the zoo.

Ms. Duty trained 15 to 20 volunteer docents, explaining how best to talk to people who have moderate memory loss. The first Meet Me at TMA was in August, 2009. Since then, a core group of regulars have attended, joined by others who come occasionally.

MoMA's program was evaluated in 2008 by faculty at New York University who wrote: "The value placed on the person with dementia at least temporarily removes the stigma of Alzheimer's disease so that participants can enjoy the MoMA experience. It is possible that the extraordinary attention that was lavished on study participants may have heightened their feelings of being welcome and important, but this also serves to point out how much people with dementia feel the loss of status in the community and how much they appreciate efforts made on their behalf. The wish to continue to attend as a couple, where the limitations of the ill spouse would not affect the experience for the well, makes this kind of program particularly valuable. ... The setting itself sends the message to the person with dementia that he or she continues to be a person of value, and those participants for whom it was a familiar place can now return with their self-esteem safe and even nurtured."

The report also noted that most of the people with mild memory loss looked at a painting for six to 10 minutes.

Igniting the mind

At the TMA earlier this month, Art and Laura Brecher said they enjoy the monthly "escape."

"It opens up a tremendous world to people. Here they have highly selected things," said Mr. Brecher, of Ottawa Hills. "It ignites the mind. I see Laura's attentiveness to the speaker every month."

Added Mrs. Brecher, "It's interesting."

Sally and Hank Hiris, of Elmore, are frequent participants at Meet Me at TMA. With a megawatt smile and a jaunty cap, Mrs. Hiris said she loves the riot of colors Aminah Robinson has used in her autobiographical creations.

"We've been at almost every one," said Mr. Hiris. "We've come to the museum hundreds of times over the last 40 years, but when you come as part of a guided tour, you always learn something new."

They especially liked Robinson's painting of chaperones admonishing high-school students at a dance in the gym not to get risque.

"We went to CYO dances in Toledo so we know all about that kind of stuff," he said.

Contact Tahree Lane at:

tlane@theblade.com

or 419-724-6075.